Overlapping Pages
by waterxslayer
Summary: Because life is a story that sometimes shares points with other stories. A Gakuen AU.


**AN: After going on a slice of life crazed, this idea rolled around in my head and would not leave me alone. So I had to get it out. But it's nothing serious, more of an experiment than anything. It's going to be a slice of life series, where no one is the main character, but mainly focused on connections and relationships built between the characters more than anything else. It's also not planned, and I'm trying to see if I'm going to be successful at writing as I go along. If not... then, that's too bad for me I guess. To only thing I have planned is every character's back story. Some might surprise you. **

**This series is going to be just a string of vignettes that all tie in together somehow. If that doesn't work for you, than sorry. Also, since this is mainly as I write along, if you're interested in seeing this story come along, post a review and tell me who you would like to see in the next chapters! Also, I know nothing about Japanese high schools other than the research that I did and from mangas. So I apologize if I get some facts wrong.**

**Without further ado, happy reading!**

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

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"Welcome everyone, to your first day at Konoha High. I'm Hatake Kakashi and I'll be your homeroom teacher for this year."

As the homeroom teacher takes roll for his new class, Haruno Sakura uses this chance to observe her classmates. She doesn't recognize anyone, and for that she is tremendously grateful. If she did, then the high school debut, no, the high school _life_ that she has been planning since junior high would've been destroyed. She even chose to attend the high school that takes her two hours by bus to make sure that no one she knew from back home would attend here.

She breathes a sigh of relief but unconsciously, her hands clench the fabric of her skirt. Elementary and junior high were dark periods of her life, and she is determined for high school life to be different. She won't be weak, timid and shy. She refuses to get pushed around, not anymore. This time around, she's going to be strong, respectable, courageous, and there's one sure fire way of becoming just that.

"Hm," Sakura's homeroom teacher, _Kakashi-sensei,_ hums after he finishes roll. "Looks like no one's absent today. That's good. I hope that for the rest of the school year, everybody continues to be on their best behavior. Let's not get into any unnecessary trouble, and we'll all get along just fine."

He's smiling, or at least, Sakura thinks he is. It's a bit hard to tell because the only thing that's visible of his face is his left eye. It's currently closed as an upside down u, so he's most likely smiling. But he's wearing an eye patch over his right eye, and a surgical mask that covers the other half of his face, so the smile is a bit unsettling and Sakura concludes that overall, Kakashi-sensei comes off as very, very intimidating.

However, Sakura refuses to be scared because she cannot show any kind of weakness, especially to the teacher, or else she will fail at what she has set out to do. She won't cower and cry ever again, but she cannot stop her hands from shaking and the memories of her past (of boys laughing at her too wide forehead and her ridiculously colored hair, of girls sneering, pointing, pulling, pushing, shoving because she was a freak, of being alone, always alone) replying itself over and over again in her mind so she clenches her hands tighter, knuckles bleeding white, steadies her breathing, and the voice in her mind that she's remembered always hearing since forever, that sounds like her but not really, screams _Shannaro! _and forcibly pushes those memories into the deep chambers of her mind and slams the door shut.

This time will be different. Today is the first day of the rest of her life, as corny as that sounds. But it's important. Because it's the first day that determines the rest of your high school life, and she is determined to not mess it up. Instead of being laughed at, or bullied, she'll be relied on, and everyone will look up to her. So when Kakashi-sensei asks who wants to become the class representative, Sakura's hand shoot up before anyone else could even answer, or before she could alter her mind. Because this is how everything is going to change.

Kakashi-sensei blinks, most likely a bit taken aback from Sakura's eagerness and she blushes a bit from embarrassment but she refuses to cower under his gaze. She waits patiently, with her back rim-rod straight, as the masked man peeks at the seating chart. "Alright, Haruno Sakura will be our class rep."

He's smiling again, or at least, his eye is, when he glances back at Sakura. "Well then, Sakura-chan, we're counting on you."

And Sakura can't stop smiling, flushing a little from pride, because she did it. She's no longer the Forehead Girl, but Haruno Sakura, the class representative of Konoha High's Class 1-C.

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As soon as the homeroom teacher of Konoha High's Class 1-B introduced himself, Hyuga Neji wonders if he was a horrible person in his past life to deserve such a fate. The man at the front of the classroom introduces himself as Maito Gai and _bellows_ about high school life and springtime of youth, he can't really understand, and Neji inwardly groans.

All Neji ever wants from high school are top scores and a few friends here and there, basically, a simple quiet, _normal_, high school life filled with pleasant memories. But one look at his homeroom teacher- a man clad in green leather (green leather!) with way too much energy, a bowl cut and eyebrows that are _thicker_ than his best friend – and that dream is thrown out the window.

Neji is chosen to be class representative because no one volunteered and he has the highest test score of the class. He accepts the role because it's an honor and he hopes that it will take a little bit of guilt off of his previous life, and hopes that by being a responsible role model to his classmates, fate will be kinder to him in the near future.

But when Gai-sensei announces that their homeroom is Gym, Neji dies a little inside because maybe, being class representative will not be enough. As the class file out to the locker room, Neji wonders just how horrible he had to have been in his past life to deserve such a fate.

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They're homeroom teacher is a freak. Scratch that, all of their teachers, especially the last one they just had, the Gym teacher, are all freaks. But honestly, Namikaze Naruto is okay with that. Although they're all super weird, they all seemed kind of cool, and best of all, none of them were looking at him with those judging, scorning eyes like the teachers he had had in the past. And he is determined to make sure that no one in Konoha High would ever look at him like that.

It's amazing! None of his classmates look at him in fear, unlike those of his junior high. He did right to come to a school so very far away from home because no one recognizes him here. He could start over, become whoever he wants to be, and finally, he would be able to make friends; he wouldn't be _alone._

But making friends is a lot harder than he originally thought. In between classes, he tried to talk to the boy sitting next to him, but he was always asleep. During Gym, he tried to strike a conversation with the sunglasses wearing boy (which, to honest, is kind of weird) who was running next to him, but he only gave out nods or one worded responses, and eventually, Naruto ran out of questions to ask the guy. He already forgot his name anyway.

Even though his earlier attempts at making friends failed, Naruto didn't give up. He is determined to be friends with _everyone_ in his class no matter what, and he won't give up until he does. He'll try again with the dude whose name he already forgot later. Up next is lunch, the most crucial time for making friends, and Naruto has a plan.

In order to be friends with everybody, you got to be friends with the one who knows everybody, and that person is the class rep. They were always popular among the class back when he was in junior high, so he's determined to be best buds forever with the class rep of Class 1-C. So as soon as the lunch bell rings, he pulls up his chair in front of the class rep's desk and gives her his best smile.

"What's up, I'm Namikaze Naruto!"

He tries to meet her eyes because mom always said that making eye contact with people makes you more likeable, but he can't find them because they're covered by thick pink bangs and huge rimmed glasses. In fact, he can only see the lower half of her face, and his confidence drops a little. When a few moments of silence pass, Naruto is about ready to count this attempt as a failure, but suddenly the girl before him smiles a timid smile and extends out a hand.

"Sorry, you kind of surprised me. I'm Haruno Sakura, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Naruto latches onto her hand and shakes it wildly, his smile getting a whole lot bigger and becoming much more genuine, because finally, _finally, _he's not going to be alone. "Right back at'cha, Sakura-chan! We're going to be best buddies forever, believe it!"

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"Hinata."

Hyuuga Hinata looks up from her bento lunch. Uchiha Sasuke is standing before her wearing a slight smile. It's a bit hard to tell, because his lips aren't quirking up, but after knowing Sasuke for so long, Hinata could see the small nuances of a smile. In order to decipher Sasuke's moods, one just had to look at his eyebrows; they are his most expressive feature.

"Sasuke-kun."

Her childhood family friend tips his head, implying a slight bow. "It looks like we're in the same class again."

Hinata returns the notion, smiling in relief. "Yes, please take care of me this year too."

She won't be alone this year again, because of Sasuke-kun, and for that, she is grateful. She never has the confidence in herself to make friends, but for the last two years of junior high, Sasuke-kun was always in her class and since they were already familiar with each other, they always sat together for lunch.

The Uchihas and the Hyuugas are family friends and business associates. The Uchihas are the head of the police force in the Shinobi district of Japan, and the Hyuugas are the top prosecutors that work directly with them. And to strengthen their partnership, the two families usually invite the other to dinners often. So she's known Sasuke-kun for as long as she could remember.

She and he weren't initially close, and to be honest, even now, they really aren't. But Sasuke-kun didn't enjoy the rowdiness of the boys and the flirting from the girls, yet they never seemed to leave him alone if he was by himself. So when he found out that Hinata was in his class for the first time, he made it a habit to sit next to her for lunch because he knew that she was quiet. Hinata never minded this, because before, she would always eat alone, and she hated that. But she didn't enjoy the leers that she would get from the boys and the girls never wanted to talk to her. So even if they didn't talk much during lunch, she appreciated his company.

Without another word, Sasuke-kun pulls up a chair and starts digging into his sandwich.

They've been sitting together at lunch for two years already, and Hinata is relieved that they will continue to do so for another one. Because then, at least she isn't alone in a new school enviroment.

She takes a bite of her rice and egg, and it's silly, but she thinks that they suddenly taste a lot better than they did a few moments ago. Because really, she is so, so so glad to find something familiar in the unfamiliar.

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Nara Shikamaru yawns.

Finally, class is over, he can finally go home and away from this troublesome place.

Before coming to school, his mother yapped on about how exciting high school is going to be, but after finishing his first day, Shikamaru can't find the novelty of it. It's exactly the same as junior high, just with different teachers. Many of his classmates he has met before, except for the troublesome one who sat next to him, who just _would not stop talking and let him be¸_ so there really isn't anything special or exciting. He sleeps through his class if the subject's too troublesome and eats with his best friend Choji for lunch, just like junior high. There's _nothing_ special or different about high school, nothing to look forward to.

And for a brief moment as he walks home with Choji, Shikamaru wonders why he's so disappointed.

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**AN: Some of these characters I have never written in their perspective before. So some of them are probably executed very awkwardly. Yes, I know, I'm ashamed too.**


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